The Philippines will never improve while its self-perception is not aligned with REALITY

World class. Tourist haven. Investment darling. Friendly and hospitable people. Heart and a lot of fighting spirit. A positive and happy place. The list goes on and on about how the Philippines sees itself, and consequently, how it would like the rest of the world to see it. To Filipinos and Philippine society, keeping up images and projecting oneself in a “positive” light are of utmost importance.

Filipinos place a great emphasis on how they are viewed by others. The significance of this statement is indeed a lot larger than it seems at first. Once one has lived long enough in the Philippines, however, any positive image you may have will most likely be replaced, if not completely shattered.

Infrastructure is lousy. Traffic has become unmanageable. Public transportation is running on fumes. We still have a decrepit airport even if we’re not on the 2016 list of World’s Worst Airports anymore. The ongoing bullet-planting incidents, allegedly by airport personnel themselves, are not helping our reputation and image to tourism one bit. We are only too willing to scam visiting tourists because we perceive them as having a lot of money.

The ranking of the Philippines in the Ease of Doing Business index has not only slid down a few places compared to last year, it’s downright pathetic for a country in a region of high-achievers. Corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency, government ineptness, government inability to honor contracts, and the restrictive business environment in the Philippines are some of the factors that negate any “positive” thoughts Filipinos may have about doing business here. In fact, some in the business community have been quoted as saying “It’s no longer fun to do business here”.

As one can glean from Filipinos’ reaction to the World’s Worst Airports and the Ease of Doing Business index, they are more concerned about the rank than they are about the actual improvements being done on the ground.

Filipinos are a friendly and hospitable people, only until you start criticizing anything about them. Regardless of who the criticism comes from, Filipinos will more often than not raise their middle finger whenever they are the target of criticism, or they are put in what they perceive as a bad light.

Believe me, there is a lot to criticize about the Philippines. Both locals and foreigners will agree with me here.

Filipinos treat those outside of clan and friendship lines with utter disregard. The prevailing attitude here is me-first. Regardless of whether Filipinos are on foot, or behind the wheel, they have this baseless sense of being more important than anyone else. Filipinos cut lines, ignore rules and regulations if they think they won’t get caught, and worse, will pick fights and play victim if you call them out on their misbehavior.

Heart and fighting spirit alone do not make a people improve if the brain is not present. There is a lot of fight, a lot of action in Philippine society, but there is also a lot of aversion to thinking, and a thick atmosphere of anti-intellectualism.

The Philippines may be a happy and positive place, only in the sense that Filipinos are predisposed to keeping a smile on their face and keeping a “positive attitude” in the face of adversity, but the state of the country today is hardly anything to be happy and positive about.

Filipinos are too full of themselves and have such high self-regard. What is lacking is any inclination towards doing the hard work of making sure their self-perception and their reality actually match.

It is easier to spin bullshit than it is to build a solid foundation. But true progress and improvement never did come easy, nor did they come by spinning bullshit and believing it.

The Philippines’ nakedness has been called out so many times. Yet it seems like in none of those times has the Philippines ever responded and stepped up to the challenge of fixing themselves. Instead, Filipinos lash out at and blame the one who points out their flaw and makes it their fault for not putting the Philippines in a positive light.

The Philippines is a land of opportunity – a land of wasted opportunity. A lot more will continue to be wasted unless Filipinos get rid of their unnecessary self-pride and self-regard. They must come to terms with the fact that they’ve got a lot of work to do in order to improve the Philippines from the dismal state it is in now.

And no, there will be no hero who will do everything for them and lead them to the better times on his own. Filipinos need to pull their own weight.

The Philippines will never recover from the 3rd World status Poverty stricken country of 32 years of MADPnoy doing of changing the first world status of masagana99 legacy of our Great nation President Ferdinand E. Marcos, courtesy of the American,Japanese,Malaysians of the economic hitmen of shulzt,bossworth,Cardinal Sin,dandingcouangco,Senatong Alibaba Enrile and his napolis list of money bathub auditors.

You have two cows. You hire four employees to milk them ans a security company to guard your property. One of the employees milks the vows why the other three are busy chatting on their cell phones. At the end of the day the milk and one cow have been stolen.

Perhaps Pinoys have always idolized Americans and their fun-loving wild wild west ways. We have cloned or Americanized ourselves that leading to the deterioration of Filipino values and loss of identity…thanks to the addictive American media. Now Pinoys believe we can live like Americans…lahat panay sarap na lang. Nothing wrong with enjoying masarap…the problem is they think its free and can be had cheaply. So if it is cheap and free, why work hard to get it? Nothing is free. The reality is that Pinoys sit back and enjoy a fun and relaxed life, make a fool of themselves, live… Read more »

Filipinos are friendly and hospitable as long as money flows from your pocket into theirs. Try changing the direction of the flow and watch them run away.
There are hospitable Filipinos- or they were so back in the old times. Now, you need to go to the deep provinces to find them.
The Aeta are one such Filipino. They are nice with no need of a handout. They like you just or being you. They share what they have. Too bad they are so poor.

“Filipinos are friendly and hospitable as long as money flows from your pocket into theirs. Try changing the direction of the flow and watch them run away.”

Exactly!

The Aeta people are poor because our fellow Filipinos are ashamed of them and have kicked them in the corner to be forgotten, because our indigenous Aetas’ unappealing look and lack of social ophistication will not help raise our modern countrymen on the pedestal of social regality.

Everything in this article is just damn accurate. It’s pretty shameful right? Our country has a fairly stable goverenment (in the sense that we don’t get coups every few years or so) and more freedom of speech compared to our other ASEAN neighbors for example yet we abuse these good things we have to the point that foreigners and yes, even locals are turned off by this country and we have both the ruthless people in the government and the leftist side to thank for that. They seem to be the only privileged ones when it comes to being able… Read more »

Analysis of most commentator mostly base in metropolitan manila, that is the norm in that place, however if you try to travel to the province, barrios, and villages you will see a different Filipinos. In metro manila is a rat race survival of the fittest while in the village it is an easy going life everyday and they are happy of what little they have.

Here are some reasons how those ‘turkeys’ that we call leaders have taken the country to where it is today.. this ‘sh*t creek’ we can’t seem to wade out of. 1) Most Filipinos are functional illiterates even as the country’s ‘literacy’ rate is at 95.3%. Most sales clerks have had at least a year of college; most bus and jeepney drivers have been through high school; all the Armed Forces and Police personnel are high school graduates or better. These ranks do not yet include the government and private sector operatives;nor the teachers.. all of whom have college degrees. I… Read more »